Kevin Knoefel's defense attorney Michael J. Connick holds up the knife that was used to murder Lisa Knoefel during his final arguments in Lake County Common Pleas Court. The case went to the jury on June 10, 2014.

“The woman you would have to believe, to reach a conviction, stood over another human being and continued to stab her and slice her while that human being was begging for her life. Keep in mind, that the woman that you have to believe to return any conviction, had a 13-year-old girl put a hand on her shoulder at the time that her mother was being murdered, saying ‘Please stop. Please don’t do this.’ ”
In his closing argument, Kevin Knoefel’s defense attorney described the jury’s task of whether or not they thought the testimony of Sabrina Zunich was truthful. If not, Michael J. Connick said they should not convict Knoefel of any of the 11 charges he faces.
Knoefel, 43, of Willoughby Hills, is accused of convincing his foster daughter Zunich, who was then 18 years old, into murdering his 41-year-old wife, Lisa Knoefel, on Nov. 16, 2012.
After more than three hours of closing arguments from both the defense and prosecution, and more than a week of testimony of more than 40 witnesses, the jury of seven men and five women began their deliberation at about 2:30 p.m. June 10.
After Lake County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Gibson gave the jury and three alternate jurors their preliminary instructions, prosecuting attorney Karen L. Kowall highlighted, in her argument, various pieces of what she called “compelling evidence” and “undeniable facts” that prove Knoefel is guilty of the 11 counts brought against him.
Kevin Knoefel was charged with six counts of sexual battery, two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and three counts of complicity to aggravated murder. Zunich testified that she stabbed Lisa Knoefel 178 times.
Kowall said Kevin Knoefel had manipulated Zunich into thinking that the pair would use the life insurance proceeds from Lisa’s death to create a “perfect life,” including raising the Knoefels’ 3-year-old daughter Hailey.
“What drove her to commit this crime was the defendant putting the knife in her hand, figuratively, and pushing her into that room with the sole purpose to end his wife’s life,” Kowall said. “She did it because she was immature, she was a child, and she was misguided based on her trust and love for the defendant that he took advantage of and capitalized on.”
Kowall also called into question Kevin Knoefel’s behavior in the hours and months after his wife’s death. About nine hours after her death, he called her employer and asked about her benefits. He also paid off his house and pickup truck, bought a new home and two new cars and bought a camper using the life insurance money he obtained, which included one policy worth $750,000.
“What’s shocking in this case is the speed at which the defendant collects this money and the speed at which he spends it,” Kowall said.
She also told the jury that the day after Lisa Knoefel’s death, Kevin Knoefel obtained her cellphone from the site of the crime.
“The defendant went into that scene of that crime, walked through his wife’s blood, to the place where she died, for the purpose of what? To find her cellphone. It had to be pretty important,” said Kowall, adding that none of her other possessions were saved for her daughters. “Not her clothes, not her jewelry, not her money.”
Additionally, when he was arrested in August 2013, only two small photos of Lisa Knoefel were found in the home. But police did find a handwritten, appreciative Mother’s Day card written by Zunich to Lisa Knoefel, sitting on his dresser in his bedroom.
“Not only the crime in this case is shocking, but it’s shocking how quickly the defendant tried to erase her (Lisa Knoefel’s) existence after this crime,” Kowall said.
The prosecution also highlighted the number of texts and calls sent between the cellphones of Kevin Knoefel and Zunich. From Nov. 1, 2012, to Nov. 16, 2012, they exchanged 1,491 calls and texts. During the same time frame, he and Lisa Knoefel exchanged 201. Furthermore, from 7:12 p.m. Nov. 15, 2012, to 12:48 a.m. Nov. 16, 2012, Kevin Knoefel and Zunich exchanged 78 calls and texts. There were zero between he and his wife.
In his closing argument, Connick said the number of texts is not unusual.
“Use your own experience with text messages. They want to quantify 78 as being a lot, but I disagree. It’s not a lot,” he said. “Each time you hit ‘send’ is a separate transmission.”
He added that the content of the messages on Kevin Knoefel and Zunich’s phones is unknown.
“Without that information, you have to review whether or not that causes reasonable doubt in your mind,” Connick said.
Connick spent the bulk of his closing argument calling into question the believability of Zunich and her testimony. He argued that she acted alone and out of anger over the Knoefels telling her she would be removed from the home before her senior year graduation from Willoughby South High School.
“(The state’s) entire case revolves around you believing what Sabrina Zunich testified to, to be true,” said Connick.
Zunich began receiving treatment for mental illness at age 6, and only stopped when she turned 18 and chose not to get it any more. She took two medications to try to maintain her mental stability, Connick said.
“On Nov. 16, it didn’t work. There was no mental stability,” he said. “She did it on purpose, she did it herself, she did it without the assistance of anyone else.”
“Her story leaks. It can’t hold any water. It makes no sense.”
Additionally, Connick said that Zunich had nothing to lose by creating this story about Kevin Knoefel’s involvement in the death. The cooperation agreement with the state of Ohio, which could get her a chance of parole after pleading guilty to murdering Lisa Knoefel, will come into effect regardless of whether or not Kevin Knoefel is convicted.
“She’s going to have a good 30 years left when she gets out of prison,” Connick said.
As he did in previous days in court, Connick additionally said that no physical evidence, including DNA tests, tied Kevin Knoefel to the death nor any other crimes.
Connick also said that, even though many witnesses said his behavior after Lisa Knoefel’s death was unusual, it is unfair to judge his behavior.
“His reaction to his wife’s death, a brutal homicide, is his reaction. None of us can put ourselves in that position,” he said.
Prosecuting attorney John P. O’Donnell had the last chance to speak to the jury in his concluding argument and he said Zunich was a reputable witness.
“She sat here for six and a half hours — six and a half hours — she sat here and told you everything she knows, everything she did, and she held nothing back,” said O’Donnell. “Quite simply, there was a plan in place between the defendant and Sabrina Zunich.”
O’Donnell also focused on the various secretly recorded conversations of Kevin Knoefel, including speaking with Autumn Pavlik, who previously testified that she, Kevin Knoefel and Zunich had discussed hiring a hit man to kill Lisa Knoefel.
When Pavlik brought up that she heard Kevin Knoefel and Zunich collaborated, he did not deny it.
“His silence to that is deafening,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell also played another call, between Willoughby Hills Detective Ron Parmertor and Kevin Knoefel, in which the defendant said he only recognized Pavlik’s first name, but did not know how to contact her, even though they had recently spoken on multiple occasions and he dropped her off at the airport on Oct. 25, 2012.
“You tell me, who’s being honest?” O’Donnell said. “I ask you to return a verdict of guilty.”
The jury deliberated for about 3 1/2 hours, from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., before retiring for the evening without reaching a verdict. Jurors in the case will reconvene at about 8 a.m. June 11.

About the Author

Matt is the breaking news editor at The News-Herald. He tweets @MattNewsHerald. Send him a tip there or to mskrajner@news-herald.com. Fan of sports, TV, rock music and video games. Buckeye alum. O-H! Reach the author at mskrajner@news-herald.com
or follow Matt on Twitter: @MattNewsHerald.